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Editorial Reviews

Phil Lesh's masterpiece Unbroken Chain and the classics Ship of Fools and U.S. Blues can be found on this #16 LP from '74. And an extended live Scarlet Begonias ; the only live version of Let It Rock ; a demo of Unbroken Chain , and other rarities are among the bonus stash!

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Rock's longest, strangest trip, the Grateful Dead were the psychedelic era's most beloved musical ambassadors as well as its most enduring survivors, spreading their message of peace, love, and mind-expansion across the globe throughout the better part of three decades. The object of adoration for popular music's most fervent and celebrated fan following -- the Deadheads, their ... Read more in Amazon's Grateful Dead Store

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

This album was actually quite hard to find for a long time, but not anymore. Now we get the original 8 classic tracks nicely remastered, and with 7 bonus tracks. This is a personal favorite of mine, and sometimes I think even better than "American Beauty". Included are the excellent jams "US Blues" and "Loose Lucy", the softies "China Doll" and "Ship Of Fools", and my favorites "Scarlet Begonias" and the spacey "Unbroken Chain". The extras here are outtakes/demos of "Loose Lucy", "Pride Of Cucamonga", and "Unbroken Chain", plus live versions of "Scarlet Begonias", "Money Money", "Wave That Flag", AND "Let It Rock". In short, with the better sound and added tracks, this classic disc is now twice as nice.

IF YOU LOOK AT IT RIGHT! ... It could be an illusion, but I might as well try. That line from Scarlett Begonias always stood out. When I bought this as a teenager in the 70's, I was just becoming a big Dead fan and had recently been blown away by the trippiest concert I had ever seen. I slowly began moving in (to the MARS HOTEL) and became the guest who never left - the lizard on the wall, just hangin' out with the band. A few other DEAD recordings were earliest favorites, but it didn't take long for this one to become a regular spin, and it always gave me a welcome lift (still does). I wouldn't ever WANT to leave!

This album feels to me like the FAMILY ALBUM, a milestone recording documenting the huge build-up to that point (with the GD, we all began hovering around the warm and sparkling fire they created and became family at some point, at least it feels that way to me). Look how Phil Lesh breaks out on here - Unbroken Chain (one of the best) and Pride of Cucamonga (no, that's not Jerry playing the pedal steel, but John Mcphee) are big classics for me. The extended, multi-part Garcia guitar lead on Chain, combined with the trippy warbling synthesizer (played by Ned Lagin) is a high point for sure and has always made my hairs stand on end. Both songs have unreleased demo versions on here showing the bare bones guitar framework ... interesting for players, even with the "practice" singing.

Can any DEAD fan deny that Scarlett Begonias ROCKS! Now that is a sweet song ... Garcia weaves the most beautiful melodies (the guitar lead is a beauty) and Weir shows-off with his empathic chord work (they sling the energy all over and pull it all back without blinking), the rhythm section is tight as can be.Read more ›

The evolution was already in progress and the music of The Grateful Dead had come a long, long way from from 1967 when the band released their very first record: "Grateful Dead" to this highwater mark of San Francisco rock exploration entitled: "From The Mars Hotel". First released way back in 1974, this little gem was as close as this fantastic band would come to big-time mainstream success until the big bust through of: "In The Dark" in 1987.

With only eight songs on the original release, this re-issue has an additional seven tracks added on to really increase it's value. For the original eight, six of that bunch are considered 'Classic' Dead songs. For most of us the two diamonds from the pen of Phil Lesh are the stars of this show: "Unbroken Chain" & "Pride Of Cucamonga". But Jerry weighs-in heavy as well on "Mars Hotel" with three stunners of his own: "U.S. Blues", Ship Of Fools" & "Scarlet Begonias" which would be staples of the live shows...{Well, they STILL are included in the live shows}. And then there is: "China Doll", that is about the most beatiful ballad this band ever performed in the 30 Years they existed.

Some of the Grateful Dead's most majestic playing can be found on this record. The arrangements are well thought out, and every note played here is on-the-mark. The piano of Keith Godchaux makes every tune better because of what he plays. Bill Kreutmann, the drummer often sounds like three guys, he really gets to leave his stamp on these great recordings. And Jerry? Some of his finest Solos found on an studio GD record are to be found on this one! He snakes around and dances brightly with this. The melodies are real fine, and with Jerry's help and explorations things head for other star systems often.Read more ›

By 1973, the Dead were doing what only a few other bands (the Moody Blues among them) had only idly spoken about or attempted: They were running their own record label, releasing exactly what they wanted to, and answering to nobody but themselves. The upside to this argument is, of course, the high level of personal and artistic freedom it allowed the Dead. However, the downside was the headaches that came with running said label day to day and actually getting the records out there and promoting them. Three albums were released on Grateful Dead Records, all of which have moments of true brilliance on them: Wake of the Flood, From the Mars Hotel, and Blues for Allah. There laid the rub: How was a band which was said to stand for everything anti-Establishment supposed to enter the material world of record sales and promotion and survive? This is most likely why the three GDR albums are much less known to the average listener. They simply weren't promoted as well as they might have been on Warner Brothers or Arista. However, each of these albums bequeathed many a tune to the setlists of years to come, and other songs that fans begged the band to play, but which were simply too unwieldy at the time. From the Mars Hotel was the first of these albums I heard at a friend's house one night, and it has kept a treasured place in my stack of Dead memories to this day. Only one song seems to me to be out of place: "Money Money". I still cannot figure out if Bob Weir was singing tongue-in-cheek or if he was seriously angry at some unnamed female. Otherwise, Mars Hotel is a near-seamless blend of songs that demonstrates that the Dead were still a potent creative force to be reckoned with in the mid-1970s. The satirical "U.S.Read more ›